Trustees

Our voluntary Board of Trustees meet five times per year, with Executive staff present. Sub-committees of Trustees and staff report on Research, Finance & Investment, Accounting/Audit, Strategy and Marketing, Fundraising & PR.

New Trustees are appointed on the basis of recommendation according to experience and key skills needed and after interview by the Trustees. The initial appointment is until our Annual General Meeting and thereafter a Trustee is eligible for reappointment for three years, followed by a further term of three years. Exceptionally, the Trustees may appoint a Trustee for a third term of three years.

• Adrian Watney

  Chairman

  

  Adrian has been Chairman of the Alzheimer's Research Trust since 2004 and strongly believes in the urgent need for more dementia research. He is a senior consultant at legal firm, Pinsent Masons, former Master of the Mercers' Company and Chair of Portman Settled Estates Ltd.

• Dr Frank Abramson

  

  A former pharmaceutical scientist and co-founder of The Relationship Consulting Group, Frank's distinguished career in marketing has overseen an important phase for the Alzheimer's Research Trust's growth.  In addition to his role on the Board of Trustees, Frank is also Chair of our Marketing, Fundraising & PR sub-committee as well as the sub-committee on strategy.

• John Battersby

  Treasurer

  

  John is a consultant with KPMG Tax Advisors, specialising in strategic tax planning including: income tax, trusts, inheritance tax and international aspects of these. Before joining KPMG he worked for 10 years in central London in the headquarters of the Inland Revenue. John is chairman of the Capital Taxes Committee of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. He is particularly involved in helping to improve the quality of tax legislation affecting individuals.

• Dick Bell

  Deputy Chairman

  

  As a former Chairman of the Trustees, Dick continues to provide his financial expertise from his career in banking to the Alzheimer's Research Trust as well as his personal knowledge of dementia. Both of Dick's parents had dementia so he knows only too well the devastation it causes.  Dick is also a member of the Alzheimer's Research Trust's Scientific Advisory Board and the Trustees sub-committees for Finance/Investments and Audit/Accounting.  In 2004, he raised a tremendous £40,000 for the Alzheimer's Research Trust by walking the length of the South West Coast Path.

• Sheila Clark

  

  Sheila manages her family investment company. She became a Trustee in 2001 and also sits on our Marketing, Fundraising & PR sub-committee. With personal experience of Alzheimer's, Sheila knows only too well the devastation that the disease causes.

• Prof James Fawcett

  Scientific Trustee

  

  Prof Fawcett is the chairman of Centre for Brain Repair at the University of Cambridge.

• Prof Peter Lantos

  Scientific Trustee

  

  As Emeritus Professor of Neuropathology at Kings College London, Prof Lantos offers specific dementia expertise to the Board of Trustees.  He also sits on our Scientific Advisory Board and research sub-committee.

• Roy Leighton

  

  Now Chairman of Nymex Europe Ltd, Roy became a Trustee in 2001 and also sits on the Finance/Investment and Audit/Accounting sub-committees. Photo credit: Financial Services Skills Council

• Tony Thompson

  Legal Advisor

  

  As a principal and former managing partner of the London offices of the international law firm Withers LLP, based at the Old Bailey, Tony Thompson brings a wealth of expertise on tax and trust issues. He is also a member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners, the Addington Society, and the FTSE International Private Client Index Advisory Committee.